#FosterAnAuthor2 w/Giveaway: Day 4 One for Sorrow by Dawn Ibanez

Welcome to DAY 4 of 

#FosterAnAuthor2

sponsored by Jo & Isa Love Books

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"foster home"!

Today Dawn is spotlighting her upcoming release
One for Sorrow
Release Date Oct 30th!

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of Maxwell Investigations series from Dawn!


Upcoming New Release
One for Sorrow

Adam is an Enforcer for a witch that cursed him nearly one thousand years ago. His current assignment is to kidnap and protect a young woman whose father has a number of business dealings with Olivia. But once he actually meets headstrong Izzy, Adam has to rethink his approach on handling her.

Izzy St. Pierre is a headstrong woman that enjoys video games and her job as a bartender. On her way home one night she meets a strange man that is ready to kidnap her in order to blackmail her father. Over their time together, Izzy learns that while Adam might be cold, there was a fire that burned inside of his heart. And she finds herself fighting the urge to fan that flame to see just how much she could make him melt.

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Q & A with Dawn about One for Sorrow!

Tell us about One for Sorrow.

One for Sorrow is the start of a new 7 part series called A Murder of Crows. It follows Izzy St. Pierre and Adam Locksley as they try to break a curse that had been placed on Adam as well as deal with the circumstances surrounding an event called The Counting.

What initially inspired you to write One for Sorrow?

This was going to be my Once Upon a Time. I just love the idea of twisting fairy tales so that they are all one huge story. I started working on this as my version of Beauty and the Beast, and then it snowballed and became something completely different.

Tell us little about the characters in One for Sorrow.

Izzy St. Pierre is a former diplomat’s daughter that has been working in a bar in New York. One Super Bowl night, her entire world implodes when she discovered magic and monsters are all too real. And in the middle of the fray is Adam Locksley.

Adam was hired by a mysterious party to kidnap Izzy. Not realizing that there was a hit put out on her by his own employer. As they try to figure out what’s going on, both Adam and Izzy realize there are more reasons to them being put together than just money. Izzy could be the key to breaking his curse and stopping the Counting.

What was the hardest part of writing One for Sorrow?

The last chapter. Izzy and Adam were at a funeral, and the day I was writing it was the anniversary of one of my closest friend’s suicide, my father was not doing too great health wise (again, personal reasons that I don’t want to get in to.) I was a mess writing that scene. Re-reading that scene I was a mess. The next 3 days I was a mess and couldn’t finish writing the epilogue. 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? 

I loved matching up each character with a fairy tale. Figuring out how to do that was so much fun! I have a Beauty and the Beast, a wolf, Hansel and Gretel, a Genie and a Little Mermaid. There are a couple more that I have to weave in, but for now, it’s pretty good.

Is there a message in One for Sorrow that you hope readers will grasp? 

Through the story, Adam’s main nickname is Lady Mouse. The villain talks about how small and insignificant she is in the scope of things. I think the message in this book would be that no matter how small you are, you can still have the heart of a lion.

Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers about this book/series?

The title One for Sorrow is from an old nursery rhyme about counting magpies. But to be honest, I first heard in in a Counting Crows song called A Murder of One. LOL.

Now an exciting excerpt from One for Sorrow!

Chapter 4

Izzy sat heavily on the sofa as her father appeared on the television. Today was the third day since the attack. After turning on the local morning shows, she felt her stomach plummet. Her father, a man she once thought of as a hero, stood before a podium full of microphones and demanded her return. She reached forward and turned the TV off before looking at Adam in the kitchenette. “Is there a way I can contact him?” she asked.

She couldn’t identify the expression that crossed his face. When he pressed his lips together, she knew the answer. “It wouldn’t be a good idea,” Adam said slowly.

Izzy jumped to her feet and started to pace. She knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn’t leave him in such a state. “He’s upset. He may think that one of his enemies took me. Isn’t there some way we can get word to him that I’m okay?”

“The night we met, you refused to talk about your father,” Adam said as he carried a tray of fresh fruit into the living room. “Now all of a sudden, you’re the doting daughter. Why?”

Izzy frowned as she looked at him. “My relationship with my father is complicated, okay?” She turned away from him and quickly grabbed a grape before walking across the room. “When I was younger, I thought he couldn’t do any wrong. As I got older, I started to see more of his faults. By the time I graduated high school and he left his position as ambassador, I knew what his world was all about. I couldn’t stand by and smile for the camera while he did everything he could to destroy millions of lives, just to turn a profit.” She ate the grapes in her hand and thought about her next statement. “But with that being said, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about him and his health. And what if he thinks that one of his rivals kidnapped me? He could start a war that could kill him. He may be a right bastard, but he doesn’t deserve to die.”

Adam bit into an apple as he watched her. Again, his expression was unreadable. Izzy was beginning to discover that she hated that. Before she could say anything, he shrugged. “There may be a way. I’ll see about getting word to him. For now, I want you to sit down and get something to eat.”

“How magnanimous of you,” she mumbled. She walked back over to the tray and grabbed more grapes. “Please don’t sit there and patronize me. We’re both adults. I’m not an invalid that needs you to take care of me.”

He stood and followed her across the room. “Do you even realize how close you were to dying?” he asked softly. “You gave yourself a concussion. While I normally wouldn’t be bothered by that, the angle at which you hit your head could have easily broken your neck. You haven’t eaten anything since the night we met, and while I was able to force broth down your throat, you need something with more weight to it in order to survive what I’m going to teach you.”

Something in the tone of his voice made Izzy freeze. There was something there that should have scared her, but it didn’t. She balled her fists and squared her shoulders. “I can survive whatever you throw at me.” She was a fighter. She would fight as hard as she had to in order to get her life back.

Adam chuckled darkly. His chocolate colored eyes raked over her body. “Yes, Little Mouse, you are a survivor,” he mocked.

She was going to hurt him. “Stop calling me that,” she hissed. When his eyebrow arched up, she felt her temper flare. “I’m not a pet, nor a child.”

He snorted as he moved closer to her. “You could have fooled me,” he told her. That mocking smile crossed his face again.

She was going to find a way to wipe that smile off of his face. She took note of the way he walked around the room. For whatever reason, he seemed to be sizing her up. Izzy had spent too many classes and sparring sessions under that gaze. She adjusted her stance and curled her hands into fists. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked as she calmed her temper. “That because you’ve seen me at my lowest, I’m not capable?”

“We’ll just have to see.” He didn’t telegraph a move before attacking her. When Adam was about to grab her, she jumped back onto the sofa and quickly kneed him in the jaw. Before she could follow with another blow to his jaw, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her over his shoulder. “Don’t make it easier for me to grab you,” he said calmly. “Remember, if I’m a vampire trying to kill you, getting in close could cost you.”

She growled before shifting her weight and slamming her knee into his jaw again. Izzy folded her fists together and slammed them into the center of his back. When his hold loosened, she flipped herself over his shoulder, onto the coffee table. As he turned to her, she quickly slid her brass knuckles over her fingers. Izzy barely blocked the swing he took at her and countered with another strike straight to his jaw.

Adam fell back and cursed. It was as if he had a target on his jaw. Just when she was about to move after him, he tangled his legs up with hers and brought her down on top of him. With ease, he grabbed both of her hands and turned to pin her under him. Adam looked into her livid eyes. “Again, you would be dead, Little Mouse,” he chided. “If you have enough distance, run. Don’t try to fight. It’s your last resort.”

Izzy looked at him. “Call me Little Mouse one more time, I’ll turn you into one,” she said with a vicious growl.

The amusement that entertained him quickly fled. Adam leaned closer to her face. “You don’t get it. You are a little mouse. You’re a human being, thrown into a world of creatures that could kill you with a snap of their fingers.”

“I didn’t ask to be thrown into your world.” Izzy shifted her hips and brought her legs around his waist. She ignored the way his body pressed up against hers. “Let’s see how you react when you’re told that movie monsters are real and want to kill you.” She locked her ankles behind his back and started to squeeze her legs together. When Adam released one of her hands to pry her legs apart, she swiftly punched him again.

He grunted in pain as he tried to pry her legs apart. She squeezed her legs tighter, knowing that at any moment she would hear a rib crack. Izzy saw a flash of red cross his eyes before his hand closed over her throat. His fingers tightened as he leaned over her. “Let me go Isabeau. I want to teach you, not really hurt you.”

She looked into his eyes as tears filled her own. The anger that started to fill her drained away with the realization that he was right. She was nothing more than a mouse in a house of horrors. Izzy released the hold her legs had on his waist and took a deep breath when Adam let her throat go. She looked up at the ceiling as Adam rolled off of her. Just as she ignored the feeling of his body against hers, she was going to ignore the rush of cold that now washed over her. A frown crossed her face as she replayed their fight. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she asked miserably.

Adam touched his jaw. “You did more damage than most.”

© 2016 Dawn Bond-Ibanez

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